The present invention relates to a subscriber circuit in which several SLIC circuits are combined in one multiple SLIC. A SLIC is a supply circuit for an analog telephone, which circuit feeds a terminal apparatus and switches a call on and off. SLIC is the abbreviation for "Subscriber Line Interface Circuit."
In existing subscriber circuits, a SLIC is respectively allocated to a subscriber in an exchange, and is connected with this subscriber via an a-lead (tip) and a b-lead (ring). A subscriber circuit in the exchange contains several SLICs, as well as a battery and a call signal generator common to the SLICs. Using the call signal generator, each SLIC supplies a call alternating signal for the subscriber allocated to it, via the a-lead or, respectively, the b-lead.
Thus, up to now a SLIC has been allocated to each subscriber, containing all the necessary high-energy and low-energy components for its functioning, i.e. the supplying of the call alternating signal. The high-energy components are, in particular, relays that switch on and off the call alternating signals on the a-lead or b-lead.
The allocation of a SLIC to each subscriber entails a considerable expense, which results in a relatively high space requirement due to the relays. This expense and this space requirement could be considerably reduced if the supporting of several subscribers could be assigned to one "multiple" SLIC, so that such a multiple SLIC supplies call alternating signals to several subscribers, for example four subscribers.